Switching irons... for blades ?

[chipa]

I'm a 15 hc and I play blades because I can't hit oversize clubs(GI) with offset as I start to lose confidence. My mishits pay a price but honestly I usually just lose a little distance which isn't too bad most of the time. There is also the "discipline" factor that comes with blades (due to my tendency to overswing) which gains me strokes every round.

[Gax]

As multiple people pointed out : blades don't change that much. A friend of mine has a set of Nike VR Pro, which I am going to take to the course. 
If the pro accepts to lend them to me for a round I'll see for myself.

Thanks for all the input it's helping a lot !

[Pnoj]

Tested out some Apex MBs about a month ago, I am no where near good enough to play blades, but everything was a nice baby draw. Treat yourself and grow with them.

[Ger21]

If you stay within about 1/2" of the center, you'll be fine. You'll know you didn't hit it perfect, but you won't usually lose more than 5-10 yards. My mishits with VR Pro's are usually at worst 2-3 yards short of the green.

Now, toe shots are another story. 😂

Now that I'm 56, I finally took the 3 iron out of the bag this year, because I can't hit it out of the rough. But It's still great off the tee.

[cn34]

If you can, play a round with them as others have suggested. I think this is solid advice for ANY type of iron or wedge. I think with a driver you always have a controllable surface to hit from (the tee, presumably off a level lie). With irons and wedges there are so many variables you'll face.

 

Play them once (or more) and take notes. Where did you feel penalized? Where did they help? What did ball flight look like from the fairway, from the rough? What about sidehill, downhill, uphill lies?

 

Be fair with your evaluation, then make your decision. If you feel the upside outweighs any penalties, pull the trigger. 

[jackdanger]

4 hours ago, Gax said:

A friend of mine has a set of Nike VR Pro

Ahhh, I'm going to say this will be a VERY solid start to your blade years. Godspeed to your friend trying to pry those clubs back from you

[lefty1978]

Blades are more forgiving than most think. I think a lot of people think you have to hit a pin size spot every time. Not true. If you can hit around the middle, you'll be fine. Like other have said, if you're all over the face, don't try it. But there's nothing, I mean nothing like squaring up a pro v1 with a forged blade iron and a dynamic gold s300 shaft.

Edited October 14, 2020 by lefty1978

[chipa]

44 minutes ago, lefty1978 said:

Blades are more forgiving than most think. I think a lot of people think you have to hit a pin size spot every time. Not true. If you can hit around the middle, you'll be fine. Like other have said, if you're all over the face, don't try it. But there's nothing, I mean nothing like squaring up a pro v1 with a forged blade iron and a dynamic gold s300 shaft.

 

I've been playing soft cast blades/small cb for many years and honestly they feel pretty close plus they don't hurt so bad on the mishits, haha. 

[mahonie]

23 hours ago, Gax said:

As multiple people pointed out : blades don't change that much. A friend of mine has a set of Nike VR Pro, which I am going to take to the course. 
If the pro accepts to lend them to me for a round I'll see for myself.

Thanks for all the input it's helping a lot !

My take on this is this...if you were hitting them really well first up, just imagine just how well you can hit them when you’ve got used to them!

 

As many have said, if you’re close-ish to the sweetspot you will find distance control to be pretty much spot on. For me, dispersion front-to-back is the major benefit of playing MBs.

[Fairway14]

For many players, from beginner to Tour pro, relatively small iron heads are the most sensible choice. It is sad that the golf industry (OEM brands, retail stores, fitters  etc...) try to shame people away from playing anything but oversize irons.

[LeoLeo99]

On 10/13/2020 at 5:28 PM, Gax said:

As multiple people pointed out : blades don't change that much. A friend of mine has a set of Nike VR Pro, which I am going to take to the course. 
If the pro accepts to lend them to me for a round I'll see for myself.

Thanks for all the input it's helping a lot !

 

I went from VR Pro to G400 and don't miss the Nikes one bit.  See for yourself.  VR Pro are a challenging club.  They are great if you do your job but they don't offer much help.  They're for purists and folks that can hit the sweet spot.

[bodhi555]

After learning to play golf in the late 80's with blades, then following the herd to move to cavities, I moved back to blades about 15 years ago and haven't looked back. I'm guessing it's because I learned with them, but I just don't get this idea that they're impossible to hit. Maybe it's the blades I'm using, but the "sweetspot" doesn't seem any smaller than the cavities I've tried. Caveat is my miss usually heel side rather than toe, and low in the club rather than high, but even then, results are no worse than a "Player's" cavity like the 620 CB or P7 MC.

 

OP I'd say if you've tried a few options and they're working out best for you, then go for it. I doubt as a 4 Handicapper you'll get too many negative comments about having them in the bag - I'm off 7 and only ever hear positive things about my VR Pros.

 

 

 

 

[FormerBigDaddy]

I’ll also agree that the lack of forgiveness in blades is overblown. I’m about a 10HC and I recently got the P7TW’s after playing a couple of players cb sets for the last 15 years. Yes, I know that some may look at my bag and my score and say I shouldn’t play them. But I don’t care... that’s how I choose to enjoy the game. They’re freaking awesome and I hit them better than I did my “more forgiving” irons. I don’t know if it’s bc I focus more or that I’m just getting better (which it could be as I’ve trended down about 5 strokes this year). Something about the thin sole, top line. and little offset just fits my eye and makes me more comfortable over the ball. 
 

If you’re truly a 4hc then I’m sure you can play them. They really aren’t that hard to hit and I find them to be super straight and love the trajectory. Get em!

[setter02]

On 10/14/2020 at 6:53 PM, Fairway14 said:

For many players, from beginner to Tour pro, relatively small iron heads are the most sensible choice. It is sad that the golf industry (OEM brands, retail stores, fitters  etc...) try to shame people away from playing anything but oversize irons.

 

Are you a world class player/instructor/club designer/fitter yet?  

Edited October 19, 2020 by setter02

[JB_007]

I've had 9 iron sets this year, ranging from T200 down to 3 different kinds of blades.. my scores didn't change all that much with either of them, all the rounds were within 3-4 strokes, and I can honestly say my driver is what got me in trouble more than the irons. I'm a 5-6handicap by the way.   I've finally bite the bullet myself and ordered the P7TW and I love everything about them, and my desire / search for a new iron set is finally gone. 

 

I will say, the one thing I like is knowing what the ball will do. If I make good contact, it's going to fly the number I want, if I don't make good contact, it will be a bit short. I rather be short than long personally, but I also have faith in my short game. I will say, specifically with the TW irons, the almost feel sneaky "forgiving" ( I hate using that word), as I've had a few shots that were not anywhere near the middle, and still flying close to the distance I would expect. They have a heavier head, which may contribute to this. 

 

At the end of the day, most of us don't play for money, and we all play for enjoyment. If those irons make you happy and you can afford them, I say buy them. You shouldn't be concerned in the least bit what other people think of what is in YOUR bag. 

[setter02]

48 minutes ago, 2ndCut16 said:

I've had 9 iron sets this year, ranging from T200 down to 3 different kinds of blades.. my scores didn't change all that much with either of them, all the rounds were within 3-4 strokes, and I can honestly say my driver is what got me in trouble more than the irons. I'm a 5-6handicap by the way.  

 

Chuckled a bit reading this as it is basically me in a nutshell this year, tho much worse the last 6 weeks in buying iron sets (today alone was a set of Edel's and a mint set of Cally X Proto and Scratch SB-1s coming Thursday) and have 7 sitting in the garage right now (not including my 30+ yr old blade sets...). 

 

I tinker because I have lots of iron shaft sets that work with my swing and will generally score the same regardless unless I have an outlier day.  This works for me, but the other 4 guys on my street that golf, I could never put a blade in their hands and expect them to score the same, they just don't have the skill/repeatable swing to do so (all 25+ cappers regardless of what they think).  So it can work for some, no chance at all for most.

[Tree Levino]

16 hours ago, 2ndCut16 said:

I've had 9 iron sets this year, ranging from T200 down to 3 different kinds of blades.. my scores didn't change all that much with either of them, all the rounds were within 3-4 strokes, and I can honestly say my driver is what got me in trouble more than the irons. I'm a 5-6handicap by the way.   I've finally bite the bullet myself and ordered the P7TW and I love everything about them, and my desire / search for a new iron set is finally gone. 

 

I will say, the one thing I like is knowing what the ball will do. If I make good contact, it's going to fly the number I want, if I don't make good contact, it will be a bit short. I rather be short than long personally, but I also have faith in my short game. I will say, specifically with the TW irons, the almost feel sneaky "forgiving" ( I hate using that word), as I've had a few shots that were not anywhere near the middle, and still flying close to the distance I would expect. They have a heavier head, which may contribute to this. 

 

At the end of the day, most of us don't play for money, and we all play for enjoyment. If those irons make you happy and you can afford them, I say buy them. You shouldn't be concerned in the least bit what other people think of what is in YOUR bag. 

 

 

A few things to mention here. 

 

1. The TW heads are actually quite light - https://www.golfworks.com/images/art/MPF_TAYLORMADE.pdf

2. As someone that switches irons a lot as well, playing 9 sets in one season is part of the reason why you might find you play "generally the same" with all of them but aren't drastically improving. The vast majority of good players I play with have browned out players cavities. 

3. The "short rather than long" argument is one made by many average golfers who play blades. The below article shows that your GIR would increase pretty dramatically if you were slightly longer than you think you are. 

 

I'm a + cap and just made T100 my gamers rather than my blades because I've noticed the help they provide on slightly thin or toe side strikes (we all do it - even pros). The key to scoring is being pin high. If you pump it long of the green it's generally because you were hitting out of the rough/wet and got a flier, you misjudged the wind, took an uncontrolled swipe at it and made abnormally good contact, or you flipped your hands which narrowed your spin loft window and gave you a low spinner. Any of these can happen with blades or cavities. 

 

I see way more high singles or low teen HC golfers playing blades than I do scratch or + which is quite funny. The best golfer at my club who is a +4.5 and had a very good D1 career as well as holding our course record at 62 on a VERY tough track to score on (only 3 par 5s and hard overall) plays a beat of set of Titleist CBs. He says he'd never play blades because you lose launch on any miss strike. That matters on forced carries. You'd never want to play the guy for money. Lots of 15 HC telling you how easy it is to hit a blade but when you're trying to break par every round it's a different story. 

 

 

https://blog.trackmangolf.com/performance-of-the-average-male-amateur/

 

 

[JB_007]

3 minutes ago, TigerInTheWoods said:

 

 

A few things to mention here. 

 

1. The TW heads are actually quite light - https://www.golfworks.com/images/art/MPF_TAYLORMADE.pdf

2. As someone that switches irons a lot as well, playing 9 sets in one season is part of the reason why you might find you play "generally the same" with all of them but aren't drastically improving. The vast majority of good players I play with have browned out players cavities. 

3. The "short rather than long" argument is one made by many average golfers who play blades. The below article shows that your GIR would increase pretty dramatically if you were slightly longer than you think you are. 

 

I'm a + cap and just made T100 my gamers rather than my blades because I've noticed the help they provide on slightly thin or toe side strikes (we all do it - even pros). The key to scoring is being pin high. If you pump it long of the green it's generally because you were hitting out of the rough/wet and got a flier, you misjudged the wind, took an uncontrolled swipe at it and made abnormally good contact, or you flipped your hands which narrowed your spin loft window and gave you a low spinner. Any of these can happen with blades or cavities. 

 

I see way more high singles or low teen HC golfers playing blades than I do scratch or + which is quite funny. The best golfer at my club who is a +4.5 and had a very good D1 career as well as holding our course record at 62 on a VERY tough track to score on (only 3 par 5s and hard overall) plays a beat of set of Titleist CBs. He says he'd never play blades because you lose launch on any miss strike. That matters on forced carries. You'd never want to play the guy for money. Lots of 15 HC telling you how easy it is to hit a blade but when you're trying to break par every round it's a different story. 

 

 

https://blog.trackmangolf.com/performance-of-the-average-male-amateur/

 

 

 

Thanks for that correction, I was thinking more with regard to swing weight vs club head weight. (TW D4, T100 D2)

 

I agree with you with regard to playing something that's not a blade for scoring. I swap between my T100 and TW pending what that day of golf looks like for me. If I'm playing with friends and just more relaxed round, I take the TW, because they are fun to play. During Men's league or going to a new course that I want to try and score at, I take the T100.

 

I think at the end of the day, it depends what you want from your golf. If you want to score low, play the same gear, and play what offers you the best chance at scoring. For me, I like trying new things, and tinkering. That's almost become another hobby in itself for me. I will say, I think the T100 is the best iron on the market right now. I think a set of blades makes for a good day too.

 

That article was actually pretty informative, I will have to look more into this.  

[Tree Levino]

4 minutes ago, 2ndCut16 said:

 

Thanks for that correction, I was thinking more with regard to swing weight vs club head weight. (TW D4, T100 D2)

 

I agree with you with regard to playing something that's not a blade for scoring. I swap between my T100 and TW pending what that day of golf looks like for me. If I'm playing with friends and just more relaxed round, I take the TW, because they are fun to play. During Men's league or going to a new course that I want to try and score at, I take the T100.

 

I think at the end of the day, it depends what you want from your golf. If you want to score low, play the same gear, and play what offers you the best chance at scoring. For me, I like trying new things, and tinkering. That's almost become another hobby in itself for me. I will say, I think the T100 is the best iron on the market right now. I think a set of blades makes for a good day too.

 

That article was actually pretty informative, I will have to look more into this.  

 

 

Yeah it's a great article for sure. I am totally not one to play function over looks for the most part and I think that's a large part of the reason I love the T100. The badging doesn't look great to me but I love the sole design, blade length, top line, toe shape, and lack of offset. I just put it down behind the ball and it looks "right". I do think that if you can put it in the fairway and make putts you will score better. Iron forgiveness is what it is - if you can hit a good amount of greens you're giving yourself a chance. My best round of the season was 66 and it was with my blades. I could just see the lines on my putts so well. Hit 16/18 greens and 28 putts. Was giving myself a chance from the fairway so easier to put it on the green. That's just how golf  goes. I've had days with the T100 where I'm hitting more solid iron shots but the putts aren't dropping. I've shot +1 and +3 my first two rounds with them but that is down to the flat stick not the irons. I anecdotally can feel more help with them though. I've hit a couple of par 3s and thought to myself "no way that's going to be up" and then somehow it lands pin high on the green. Don't believe that would be the case with my other set. I do need to rebuild in the winter with heavier SW though. D4 is my jam. 

[chipa]

27 minutes ago, TigerInTheWoods said:

 

I see way more high singles or low teen HC golfers playing blades than I do scratch or + which is quite funny.

 

 

 

I'm a high h.c. and I play cheap blades that isn't impressing anyone with their looks. I started playing golf with small clubs and little offset and I just recently tried some small GI and I hit them all over the face and then my swing started getting bad. I don't have a very repeatable swing and I start overswinging when it gets worse, which is very bad for my back. Also the large irons don't inspire the confidence I thought they would either. 

 

I went back to my blades and I hit them plenty good enough and every time I get ready to hit a shot I am reminded that in order to get the results I want I need to be disciplined, which is I believe is my greatest swing flaw. Plus when I hit them near the sweet spot my cheap but soft 304 blades feel better than many forged blades I have played, and this gives me confidence too. I don't know about anyone else but I can still remember hitting shots from 20 years ago and whenever I need confidence to make a good swing I try to remember them.

[NRJyzr]

9 minutes ago, 2ndCut16 said:

 

Thanks for that correction, I was thinking more with regard to swing weight vs club head weight. (TW D4, T100 D2)

 

I agree with you with regard to playing something that's not a blade for scoring. I swap between my T100 and TW pending what that day of golf looks like for me. If I'm playing with friends and just more relaxed round, I take the TW, because they are fun to play. During Men's league or going to a new course that I want to try and score at, I take the T100.

 

I think at the end of the day, it depends what you want from your golf. If you want to score low, play the same gear, and play what offers you the best chance at scoring. For me, I like trying new things, and tinkering. That's almost become another hobby in itself for me. I will say, I think the T100 is the best iron on the market right now. I think a set of blades makes for a good day too.

 

That article was actually pretty informative, I will have to look more into this.  

 

Feel obliged to chime in with a comment.  I'll try to be brief.  🙂 

 

I'm playing blades, and specifically the blades I've got in my bag, because they're the clubs that provide me with the best scores.  If I scored better with something else, I'd use those clubs. 

 

I've demonstrated it to myself many times over the last 20+ years. including a year long experiment with Eye2+, a couple dozen rounds with 2011 TP MC, and a fairly interesting couple of launch monitor sessions where I was trying to buy something new, only to be told I'd be better off if I just stuck with what I had (Golden Rams).

 

Main reason I'm chiming in is not about me specifically, but that I know there are others with similar experiences out there, having encountered many of them in the 20+ years I've been on golf forums.  It doesn't matter how many, just that it's possible.

 

[NC_Indy]

27 minutes ago, TigerInTheWoods said:

I'm a + cap and just made T100 my gamers rather than my blades because I've noticed the help they provide on slightly thin or toe side strikes (we all do it - even pros). The key to scoring is being pin high. If you pump it long of the green it's generally because you were hitting out of the rough/wet and got a flier, you misjudged the wind, took an uncontrolled swipe at it and made abnormally good contact, or you flipped your hands which narrowed your spin loft window and gave you a low spinner. Any of these can happen with blades or cavities. 

I think this really depends on where you play. For what I would venture is a majority of courses, short is going to be a better miss quite often. Most municipals and public courses that aren't trying to host mid-am's/qualifiers/be on golf digest top 100 list or whatever have no trouble in the front because they're trying to accommodate for golfers that can't get the ball up and need to run everything up to the green (or accidentally run everything up to the green).  I was playing MP-57's (which I fully recognize aren't a blade) for 10 years and switched to P-790. P-790 did exactly what it advertised itself as, it kept ball speed up on mishits. That completely changed how I played golf though. Usually my little thin fanny miss ended up short right on a low cut apron letting me hit whatever kind of chip shot I wanted. I was consistently pin high with the change to P-790, the problem for me was that meant trying to hit out of patchy rough, not super well maintained green side bunkers and uneven lies as most greens are elevated for drainage which left my pin high miss usually in much more trouble than being short. 

 

 

The reality to me is, as long as you're not so inconsistent over the face that the blade length causes more shanks (which for some people is a reality, 4ish MM's on either side of center is a lot more room to miss with something like P790 compared to P730) you can certainly enjoy golf with any type of club.

[roundersmitty]

I find my 2017 P770s are forgiving up to around 1/2" out to the toe.  A couple times a round  I hit into the green saying to myself "I didn't get it all" and wind up with a 15' putt under the hole.  Not sure if blades might leave me short and scrambling

[Boogs2]

4 words....DO IT!!!!

[Nard_S]

15 minutes ago, 2ndCut16 said:

 

Thanks for that correction, I was thinking more with regard to swing weight vs club head weight. (TW D4, T100 D2)

 

I agree with you with regard to playing something that's not a blade for scoring. I swap between my T100 and TW pending what that day of golf looks like for me. If I'm playing with friends and just more relaxed round, I take the TW, because they are fun to play. During Men's league or going to a new course that I want to try and score at, I take the T100.

 

I think at the end of the day, it depends what you want from your golf. If you want to score low, play the same gear, and play what offers you the best chance at scoring. For me, I like trying new things, and tinkering. That's almost become another hobby in itself for me. I will say, I think the T100 is the best iron on the market right now. I think a set of blades makes for a good day too.

 

That article was actually pretty informative, I will have to look more into this.  

Good stuff here, but I would add that a solid method of increasing GIR average be it CB or blades is always tack a 1/2 club to the shot in the calculus. Last season I played, "check the box" golf in that I cared only of FIR, GIR & putt counts. I averaged 10 GIR's in large part because I did this. Yes, I play blades & yes I am not a great golfer.

[chipa]

I have a nephew that is a 2 hc that has shot below par and won his club championship. He probably swings the driver at 115 or so based on is drive length and plays TM M6 and really loves telling me that he can hit his 8 iron 200, which is longer than BDC. Sure I had a hand in raising him and he wants to show off to his uncle but he is too enamored by distance and I expect he's not the only low hc'er out there that is trying to impress others with prodigious iron distances.

 

I have told him repeatedly to try a smaller club or blades so he will become more disciplined and work the ball better but I think wowing the crowd with 200 yard 8 irons is more important at this point. I went through that phase but now I'm 55 with back problems and all I want is a "very" controlled swing with controlled results, I have no doubt my cheap blades can have a large hand in me getting to a single digit hc.

[chipa]

31 minutes ago, NC_Indy said:

I think this really depends on where you play. For what I would venture is a majority of courses, short is going to be a better miss quite often. Most municipals and public courses that aren't trying to host mid-am's/qualifiers/be on golf digest top 100 list or whatever have no trouble in the front because they're trying to accommodate for golfers that can't get the ball up and need to run everything up to the green (or accidentally run everything up to the green).  I was playing MP-57's (which I fully recognize aren't a blade) for 10 years and switched to P-790. P-790 did exactly what it advertised itself as, it kept ball speed up on mishits. That completely changed how I played golf though. Usually my little thin fanny miss ended up short right on a low cut apron letting me hit whatever kind of chip shot I wanted. I was consistently pin high with the change to P-790, the problem for me was that meant trying to hit out of patchy rough, not super well maintained green side bunkers and uneven lies as most greens are elevated for drainage which left my pin high miss usually in much more trouble than being short. 

 

 

The reality to me is, as long as you're not so inconsistent over the face that the blade length causes more shanks (which for some people is a reality, 4ish MM's on either side of center is a lot more room to miss with something like P790 compared to P730) you can certainly enjoy golf with any type of club.

 

My home course has elevated greens and is hilly with most greens having deep drop offs around the green, typically to the left for some reason. My miss is a hook to the left so I agree with you 100% about preferring to miss it short rather than left because I will be faced with a chip uphill where I can probably still see the putting surface as opposed to being 10 to 20' below the hole  in the bushes trying to get up and down.

Edited October 20, 2020 by chipa

[NRJyzr]

17 minutes ago, chipa said:

I have a nephew that is a 2 hc that has shot below par and won his club championship. He probably swings the driver at 115 or so based on is drive length and plays TM M6 and really loves telling me that he can hit his 8 iron 200, which is longer than BDC. Sure I had a hand in raising him and he wants to show off to his uncle but he is too enamored by distance and I expect he's not the only low hc'er out there that is trying to impress others with prodigious iron distances.

 

I have told him repeatedly to try a smaller club or blades so he will become more disciplined and work the ball better but I think wowing the crowd with 200 yard 8 irons is more important at this point. I went through that phase but now I'm 55 with back problems and all I want is a "very" controlled swing with controlled results, I have no doubt my cheap blades can have a large hand in me getting to a single digit hc.

 

Having started playing golf in my mid-30s, I've often wondered how life would be if I'd started earlier.  Reading this, I could see that I might have gotten in the same mindset as your nephew, especially with John Daly arriving on the scene in my late 20s.

 

I still had a hint of that when I started playing, but the golf nerd forum world helped with that a bit.  Not much of that around ten years earlier.  LOL

 

Starting later may have saved me from being a King Cobra user.  😉

 

[chippa13]

1 hour ago, chipa said:

 

I went back to my blades and I hit them plenty good enough and every time I get ready to hit a shot I am reminded that in order to get the results I want I need to be disciplined, which is I believe is my greatest swing flaw.

In order to get the best results from ANY club you need to be disciplined. CBs don't magically hit dead center if you don't try to make a quality swing.

[Nixhex524]

On 10/13/2020 at 11:55 AM, tgoodspe1991 said:

I could go on for hours about some of the stupid bro-science that gets peddled on these forums when it comes to these kind of topics... but, I'll try to resist.

 

Try not to overthink these things. Pick the iron that you think looks good, gives you confidence, and performs the best. Don't worry about whether you're "good enough" for a particular set of irons. Just focus on the fact that you're picking the club that performs the best for you, which, in your case, is the P7TW, and have confidence in that decision.

Just please, please, please do not buy into the myth that you will "outgrow" irons or that the only way to really lower your handicap is to play blades. It's absolutely not true.

Love this.  Overthinking this will cause you more grief.  At the end of the day you want to have confidence and feel good about what you are playing.  That will give you the best shot at making, well, your best shot.  I recently bought some Ping i210s thinking that the larger, "more forgiving" head will make things even easier than my Hogan Icons.  What I have learned is that a bad strike is a bad strike and I really dont gain much... it's still not where I wanted it to be.  I'm not hitting bad shots next to the pin because a more GI iron is making up for the difference, it doesnt work that way.  If the blade is what you hit best and what feels the best to you, game it.  The more you play them, the more confident you will become.  Yes, you will find some difficult lies out there but the shot is incumbent on you making the best contact you can make and no club is going to improve your technique there..  shaft is important as well so don't overlook that.  This "flat surface testing" thing that people are talking about, well, if you are hitting the blade the best off that perfect lie and you arent doing that with more helpful irons then what good are they if you arent striking them well off the best of lies??  Confidence is key.  Go with what feels and works best for you.